Spanish Retail Sales Tumble

Spanish retail sales plummeted at their fastest pace on record in April, demonstrating the government's austerity program is strangling household consumption and suggesting the country's recession may deepen in the second quarter.

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Spanish retail sales plummeted at their fastest pace on record in April, demonstrating the government's austerity program is strangling household consumption and suggesting the country's recession may deepen in the second quarter.

The alleged recovery in Spain is already over. Retail sales are down month-over-month and year-over-year in July. August and September are both projected to be weak.Vial translation from El Economista, Manufacturers and Retailers Warn of Another Consumption Slowdown.

In a seriously misguided effort to balance its budget, In early September Spain Passed Largest VAT Hike In History.
I wrote at the time, "Stunning Ineptitude Will Make History Books".
Spain's unemployment rate is over 25% and the youth unemployment rate is near 53% yet the fools in the Spanish government hiked taxes yet again, this time by the largest amount in history.

Remember 2010, when everyone was arguing about whether governments hit by the Great Recession should be cutting their way back to health? Here's a chart that shows the cutters were probably wrong. The Center for Economic And Policy Research's Ben Wolcott has calculated the magnitude of countries' attempts to balance their books through austerity, versus ones that took a less severe approach.

While the biggest threat facing Mexico, and its unpopular president Enrique Pena Nieto, in the past month has been President Trump's insistence on building a "Massive Wall", which Mexico would pay for, as well as Trump's threats of renegotiating NAFTA, today we got a fresh reminder that America's neighbor to the south has another looming problem: a rapidly deteriorating economy coupled with surging inflation on the back of the recent 20% price hike for gasoline, which culminated in a record crash in Mexican consumer confidence.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. trade deficit narrowed sharply in June to its lowest level in more than 3-1/2 years as imports fell and exports touched a record high, suggesting an upward revision to second-quarter growth.
The Commerce Department said on Tuesday the trade gap fell 22.4% to US$34.2 billion, the smallest since October 2009. The percentage decline was the largest since February 2009.
May’s shortfall on the trade balance was revised to US$44.1 billion from the previously reported US$45.0 billion.

BEIJING — China’s economy grew at its quickest pace this year between July and September in a rebound fuelled largely by investment, although signs are already emerging that the pick up in activity may lose some vigour.
Gross domestic product in the world’s second-biggest economy rose 7.8% from a year earlier, official data showed, marking only the second quarter in the last 10 in which growth has accelerated.